Short Stories

I don't read them. In high school we were told to pick a short story and analyze it. I chose "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." It left only a slight impression since I didn't really appreciate any sort of challenging writing back then. Reading comprehension has also not been my strength. We did some Poe, at least "The Cask of Amontillado" 

I've shied away from the short-story mode since I prefer the security of a longer narrative (It's nice to be in something). It's more difficult to imagine the quick successive passing of the start and end points

In college I read a few probably. The only one I can think of is "Master and Man." It was probably the Maude translation, but I can't be sure. I read it somewhere on the internet. I think I liked it, but I was mostly plowing through it to fulfill assignment. I had a long spiel I wrote to indicate I understood the story. Maybe I also read a few Hemingway short stories too, but I think they were disappointing (since I can only kind of recall "The Snows of Kilimanjaro")

I read a couple more Tolstoy stories recently (Maude translation). They've jolted me back into this medium. I really might start reading these regularly

"God Sees the Truth, But Waits"

I like how Tolstoy encloses the entire universe into each story

"The Prisoner of the Caucasus"

Rare page-turner quality here. Tolstoy's characterization always seems to land

"The Bear Hunt" 

A remarkable image of ordinary spontaneous life

"What Men Live By"

I didn't dip back in after this one, it's much more rote fable. Though I wouldn't say it's bad

And by Shirley Jackson: 

"The Intoxicated"

Part of this is the entire ethos I'm looking for in writing. Though sadly I still struggle to find it (and now it's gone :(... )

I read some Roth ones included in the Goodbye Columbus paperback. I got little out of these--there was a clear drop off from the novella

"The Conversion of the Jews"
"Defender of the Faith"
"Epstein"
"You Can't Tell a Man by the Song He Sings"
"Eli, the Fanatic"

I read some Amazon previews of Raymond Carver and they were good so I'm looking forward to a few of those. I recall the Carver in Birdman fondly. It also seems like a good way to get into titans I otherwise find too titanic to dive into (like Henry James). I am also looking forward to Chekhov. He seems to have some weight in the culture that could be enlightening

Just remembered I've also read Dubliners! These stories were fantastic

"The Sisters"
"An Encounter"
"Araby"
"Eveline"
"After the Race"
"Two Gallants"
"The Boarding House"
"A Little Cloud"
"Counterparts"
"Clay"
"A Painful Case"
"Ivy Day in the Committee Room" 
"A Mother" 
"Grace"
"The Dead"

I don't recall the details of any of these that closely. But there are still a few fleeting images left. I could retread here. I'm never going to get into A Portrait, Ulysses, or Finnegans anyway

A walk by the brook 9-12

A walk by the brook #9: From a Roman Balcony

The main appeal was Massari, but I also knew the director. I saw Bolognini's The Big Night a year ago and it was quite imposing. I would have returned to that well sooner, but I really have been shying away from difficult cinema. The feeling emergent here is one in characteristic with Big Night; one feels Rome as it was then--both wonderful and horrible. Both films are masterpieces. Pasolini and Moravia both contributed to the script. Fundamentally the struggle of cinema in recent years is its preoccupation with imposing narratives into each picture. Here and in The Big Night one notices no such preoccupation--the story moves as the characters do and the narrative is just what ends up being rendered

A walk by the brook #10: Corruption

I liked the girl on the boat; she was very confident. The boy was familiar--an idealist. His father, a fully black-pilled money machine, tries to pull his progeny in with him. There really is a thing as a child where the critical unmoorings influence rapid change in ways you don't expect. One is desperate for meaning when none is around. So whatever's proximate has a gravitation

A walk by the brook #11: Slow Motion

Godard is sound design. This is pretty funny. There is of course the aesthetic literacy, the mode-switching, and some wrangled archetypes. He jumps from a decade of abstraction back into commercial space, easing in some experimentation, continuing production of the future

A walk by the brook #12: The Chorus

I like Kiarostami's use of children. I'm not sure who else can create as well with them. And I like watching people who can't hear